Confederation of African Football
Ahmad Ahmad | website = }} The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for African association football. CAF represents the national football associations of Africa, runs continental, national, and club competitions, and controls the prize money, regulations and media rights to those competitions. CAF is the biggest of six continental confederations of FIFA. Although it is just three years younger than the UEFA, CAF still has a long way to go in order to improve the quality of the national and local competitions. CAF has been given 5 slots out of the 32 available since the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, this increased to 6 in 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, to include the hosts. The number of places returned to 5 for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. CAF was founded on 8 February 1957 in Khartoum, Sudan by the Egyptian, Ethiopian, South African and Sudanese FAs, following former discussions between the Egyptian, Somali, South African and Sudanese FAs earlier in 7 June 1956 in Avenida Hotel in Lisbon, Portugal. Its first headquarters was situated in Khartoum, Sudan for some months until a fire outbreak in the offices of the Sudanese Football Association when the organization moved near Cairo. Youssef Mohammad was the first General Secretary and Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem the president. The administrative center since 2002 is located in 6 October City, near Cairo. It was initially made up of 4 national associations. Currently there are 56 associations, 54 full members beside Zanzibar and Réunion Island as associates. (see the bottom of this page or List of CAF national football teams). The current CAF President is Issa Hayatou. Suketu Patel is the 1st Vice-President, Almamy Kabele Camara is the 2nd Vice-President while Hicham El Amrani is the Secretary General. History 2010 Togo Expulsion Controversy CAF has been the subject of widespread media controversy and criticism following a decision to ban Togo from the next two Africa Cup of Nations matches, after Togo briefly withdrew then tried to rejoin the competition following an armed ambush on their bus which wounded and killed several passengers, including players. Togo appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with FIFA president Sepp Blatter stepping in to mediate. The ban was subsequently lifted with immediate effect on 14 May 2010, after a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee. CAF Members & Zones CAF Members (North Africa)}} ]] } || || 1965 || || 1980 || 1973 & 2003 || |- ! colspan="8" |Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) |- | ANG || style="text-align:left;" | Angola || || 1979 || 1980 || 1980 || 1997 || |- | BOT || style="text-align:left;" | Botswana || || 1970 || 1978 || 1976 || 1997 || |- | COM || style="text-align:left;" | Comoros || || 1979 || 2005 || 2003 || 2007 || |- | LES || style="text-align:left;" | Lesotho || || 1932 || 1964 || 1964 || 1997 || |- | MAD || style="text-align:left;" | Madagascar || || 1961 || 1962 || 1963 || 2000 || |- | MWI || style="text-align:left;" | Malawi || || 1966 || 1967 || 1968 || 1997 || |- | MRI || style="text-align:left;" | Mauritius || || 1952 || 1962 || 1963 || 2000 || |- | MOZ || style="text-align:left;" | Mozambique || || 1976 || 1980 || 1978 || 1997 || |- | NAM || style="text-align:left;" | Namibia || || 1990 || 1992 || 1992 || 1997 || |- | SEY || style="text-align:left;" | Seychelles || || 1979 || 1986 || 1986 || 2000 || |- | RSA || style="text-align:left;" | South Africa || || 1991 || 1992 || 1992 || 1997 || |- | SWZ || style="text-align:left;" | Swaziland || || 1968 || 1978 || 1976 || 1997 || |- | ZAM || style="text-align:left;" | Zambia || || 1929 || 1964 || 1964 || 1997 || |- | ZIM || style="text-align:left;" | Zimbabwe || || 1965 || 1965 || 1980 || 1997 || |- ! colspan="8" |Non-regional Members |- | REU || style="text-align:left;" | Réunion || || 1926 || || 2004 || || |} # - Excluded from CAF and from 1st African Cup of Nations in 1957 due to Apartheid # - Member of UNAF from 2005 to 2009 and from 2011 - Withdrew from UNAF on the 19th of November 2009 but return on 2011 # - Non-FIFA member associations holding associate membership of CAF CAF Regional Zones CAF Zone 1 - North Zone * * * * * CAF Zone 2 - Zone West A * * * * * * * * * CAF Zone 3 - Zone West B * * * * * * * CAF Zone 4 - Central Zone * * * * * * * * CAF Zone 5 - Central-East Zone * * * * * * * * * * * CAF Zone 6 - Southern Zone * * * * * * * * * * * * * * World Cup Participation ;Legend *1st — Champions *2nd — Runners-up *3rd — Third place *4th — Fourth place *QF — Quarterfinals (1934–1938, 1954–1970, and 1986–present: knockout round of 8) *R2 — Round 2 (1974–1978, second group stage, top 8; 1982: second group stage, top 12; 1986–present: knockout round of 16) *R1 — Round 1 *q — Qualified for upcoming tournament * •• — Qualified but withdrew * • — Did not qualify * × — Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned * — Hosts * — Not affiliated in FIFA FIFA World Cup For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown. ;Firsts *1934: first African team to qualify for the World Cup *1970: first African team to draw a match in the World Cup *1978: first African team to win a match in the World Cup *1986: first African team to qualify to consecutive World Cups *1986: first African team to reach the knockout stage *1990: first African team to reach the quarter-final *2010: first African team to host the World Cup *2014: & first African teams to reach the knockout stage simultaneously in the World Cup FIFA Women's World Cup The following CAF members have competed in the following FIFA Women's World Cups. Teams are sorted by number of appearances. Other international tournaments FIFA Confederations Cup ;Legend *1st – Champions *2nd – Runners-up *3rd – Third place *4th – Fourth place *GS – Group stage *Q — Qualified for upcoming tournament * •• — Qualified but withdrew * • — Did not qualify * × — Did not enter / Withdrew from the Africa Cup of Nations or withdrew from the Confederations Cup / Banned * — Hosts CAF Best Player of the Century CAF Best Goalkeeper of the Century CAF Best Women's Footballer of the Century CAF Golden Jubilee Best Players Poll In 2007 CAF published the list of top 30 African players who played in the period from 1957 to 2007, as part of the celebration of CAF's 50th anniversary, ordered according to an online poll. CAF's Anthem On September 18, 2007 the CAF launched a competition for all African composers to create its Anthem. The CAF anthem is a musical composition, without lyrics, which and reflect the cultural patrimony and Music of Africa|African music. The duration of the anthem is 74 seconds. The chosen anthem was first published to the site on January 16, 2008. The usage of the anthem and its composer are still unknown. Competitions International The main competition for men's national teams is the Africa Cup of Nations, started in 1957. In 2009, CAF will be organising another competition for men's national teams, the African Nations Championship composed exclusively of national players playing in the national championship. CAF also runs national competitions at Under-21 and Under-17 levels. For women's national teams, CAF operates the CAF Women's Championship for senior national sides and the African U-20 Cup of Nations for Women at under-20 level, since 2008 there is a African U-17 Cup of Nations for Women for under-17 sides. Club CAF also runs the two main club competitions in Africa: the CAF Champions League was first held in 1964, and was known as the African Cup of Champions Clubs (or just African Cup) until 1997; and the CAF Confederation Cup, for national cup winners and high-placed league teams, was launched by CAF in 2004 as a successor to the African Cup Winners' Cup (begun in 1975). A third competition, the CAF Cup, started in 1992 and was absorbed into the CAF Confederation Cup in 2004. The CAF Super Cup, which pits the winners of the Champions League against the winners of the CAF Confederation Cup (previously the winners of the Cup Winners' Cup), came into being in 1992. Current Champions CAF competitions CAF resolutions Category:Confederations